Eyes Still Watching
by Vicky-V
Summary: Zarbon is sent alone on a negotiation assignment. He comes back dead. ZarbonxRaditz oneshot.


**Pairing:** ZarbonxRaditz.

**Warning:** AU, shounen-ai, character death, sexual content.

**Word Count:** 2,459

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing in connection with Dragonball Z, nor do I make any money writing this fanfiction.

--

**Eyes Still Watching**

He wasn't getting out and everyone watching knew that was a bad thing. If anybody arrived back at the base and didn't get out of the space pod it meant they were too badly injured to move. All the various beings around were those working as operators and maintainers and they were beginning to inch towards the space pod which was sitting in the landing bay, still radiating heat from having burst through the atmosphere. Those who needed to bent down and peered through the thick coloured glass.

Zarbon didn't have the life support on, which was often seen as a good thing. But he had his eyes closed and wasn't moving at all. Which was very bad.

A being called SpinJun was the one who managed to gather his wits first and call for those in the nearest medical wing to be summoned immediately. The sound of his voice echoing off the walls sparked movement from everyone else and so the landing pads and control tower became filled with frenzied activity. The space pod was moved off the landing pad and opened but nobody dared move or even touch Zarbon. As they peered inside the space pod, they could see that his skin was pale and his hair had fallen unevenly all the way around his head. That was strange enough, but what puzzled them even more were his eyes. They appeared to have fallen in on themselves, were littered around the edge with small scratches and there were even stranger marks lining the bottom. Nobody dared reach in for further examination, so they weren't able to confirm for themselves whether or not they were seeing what they suspected; which was that Zarbon's eyes had been sewn shut.

The medical team arrived and didn't think they had ever moved so quickly in their life in getting Zarbon out of the space pod and down to the medical wing.

After that, the easy part was determining that Zarbon had been dead for three days. The hard part was deciding who would be the one to tell Frieza.

---

The unfortunate medic who ended up taking the report to Frieza was a young male called Haruo who had only been in service for just over a year. He had found himself standing before Frieza and unable to stop shaking because he had been bullied into it. Once the head medic had decided who should be the one to go everyone else had come to that conclusion as well. Never in his life had Haruo felt so disposable as he watched Frieza's eyes tracing the report, line after line.

Zarbon's death had not come about through natural causes. Blood tests had revealed a number of toxic substances within his system and the puncture wounds in his arms were easy to identify because there were bruises formed around them. What was most interesting of all were the marks upon his eyes. His eyeballs had been removed and great care had been taken to preserve the eyelids and when cleaning the wounds. Then, upon the eye sockets, markings had been carved and then Zarbon's eyelids had been sewn shut. This had been done while he was still alive. The scratches around his eyes and the burns around his wrists were from where he had tried to fight back.

Within the report, the doctor had supplied copies of the marks carved upon Zarbon's eye sockets and Haruo supposed Frieza had seen them when the tracing of his eyes stopped. Frieza studied them for a moment before his eyes narrowed to slits. Then he handed the report back and Haruo twitched violently. He reached out his hand, trying as hard as he could to stop shaking. Haruo took the report back, fully expecting to be turned into a pile of ashes as he did so. When he withdrew his arm, he found himself still in one piece and had never been so grateful in his whole life.

"Dodoria," Frieza said, turning to his remaining general. His voice was low and full with rage being pressed down. "Go at once and prepare my best troops. When you've done that, send orders to the Ginyu Force to remain on standby. I know those marks he carved and I know he wants a war. I'll nip this in the bud and go down myself."

"Yes my lord." Dodoria bowed his head.

"Because then," Frieza said. "I will have to look into Zarbon's replacement. And, considering the useless sacks of bones who can't tell their foot muscles from their brain I have around here, that's going to be a giant headache."

---

There had been a few papers, Raditz remembered, and Zarbon kept going over them. Each time he did his eyebrows dipped down a little more.

The papers held the few details which had been gathered about a planet and its leader, Atsushi, who had proved to be particularly elusive. Whatever the position may be, the ones in Frieza's army were always the best, so his researchers had worked extensively trying to gather as much as possible about him. But even they had only come up with the bare minimum. That information was mostly made up of the co-ordinates of the planet's location, an image of Atsushi, details of his lineage and what the planet was best known for. Zarbon had read the information concerning Atsushi's lineage once and then pushed it aside. In all his experience with negotiation, he had found just knowing the basis of it would do. What he really wanted was the state of the planet at present, especially what the laws were and whether they were part of any galactic union, or anything else of the sort, which gave them other rules as well.

It seemed it wasn't.

So, with the very little he had, Zarbon focused on the details of what the planet was known for, which was where Frieza's interests lay. The planet was known for naturally producing many rare substances, most of which weren't found anywhere else as far as the researchers could tell. It seemed the planets own researchers and scientists had found ways of manipulating the substances to produce others, most of which were extremely toxic. And they were always looking into more. If there was ever a situation which called for warfare, there was no doubt those substances would be used with great effect.

That was most likely why Atsushi allowed that information to be known outside his own planet, Zarbon suspected. The threat of highly dangerous toxins and poisons which would slowly shred a being's insides would surely make anybody think twice.

"Sounds dull," had been Raditz's opinion. "Negotiations are all talk and no action. If Frieza wants that stuff he should just go in and take it."

"That is exactly why I'm the one going to make these negotiations," Zarbon said. "All the information we have shows that the substances they produce have mostly become better each time. There's no point in destroying them yet if there's such a high chance of creating something even better than what they have now."

"And after that the planet gets broken down into thousands of little rocks."

"Exactly. Though whether or not it's you who gets to do that isn't up to me." Then Zarbon looked up. "And perhaps you'd like to explain what you're still doing in my quarters?"

Raditz laughed. "That used to me already?"

"I am going through this information a few more times," Zarbon said, leaning forward heavily on his elbows. "Then I am catching up on my beauty sleep because how I turn out for a negotiation such as this matters a lot more than you could imagine. Right after that I am leaving. To any other being, that would translate to 'no'. But to you, apparently, it means 'maybe'. And my maybes always mean no."

Raditz shrugged. "Worth a shot."

---

Zarbon had left some time later, just as he had said.

Raditz had no idea what happened during those negotiations, which wasn't anything unusual. Unless it was a clearance or terrorising mission, he wasn't interested.

Zarbon had come back within the time expected. What was completely different about that was he was dead upon arrival and had been for a few days.

---

The lunar charts around the planet showed that a full moon had just passed and wasn't expected again for a good while. So, as the weakest of the three Saiyans, Raditz was ordered to stay behind, which he did so, grudgingly but with no choice. It wasn't unusual for the three Saiyans to be split for a mission if it was felt that only two or even just one was needed. But Raditz had noticed very quickly that he was only called upon when the planet he was sent to was exposed to a full moon, therefore he would be at his most powerful.

So the only thing he could do was shut himself in one of the training room and not come out until he was only just able to move and the walls and floors were smeared with the ashes of Saibamen and his own blood. Raditz rarely went to the medical wings for recovery, instead he just went back to his quarters to rest, knowing that as he did so his body would become stronger.

As he dragged himself up the corridors he heard the whispers of rumours which had spread and twisted into different shapes. They had been there ever since Zarbon had come back and all they really agreed on was that something had been in his system. It had been through a drugged drink some said, which just proved that Atsushi knew exactly what he was doing. Zarbon was known for his ability to detect suspicious substances. It was one of the reasons why he had survived so long in his position. Others said perhaps he had willingly put it into his system, thinking it was something else. Raditz had even heard things about enchantment and hypnotism.

Then there were the stories about what the substances did. The most popular were ones about the toxins dissolving his insides, shredding his stomach and leaving his lungs as ragged remains. Some stories went further, saying the toxins had then started to eat away at his bones and when Zarbon had been taken to the nearest medical wing his body had suddenly collapsed in on itself.

There had also been rumours about the toxins actually being a drug which had severely altered his mental state to such an extent he had carried out the act of removing his eyes and carving upon his own body himself.

Rumour was been something Raditz had heard so many times before. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened amongst Frieza's army, but it had never been to somebody as high in rank as Zarbon before. When it occurred, although rarely so, stories would spread quickly, form themselves into different shapes and create new ones. When Raditz heard them he didn't listen. There were so many versions he didn't know which to believe, so he chose none of them.

Other things became known to him and pushed the importance of rumour even further back. He rested and felt the haze settle within his mind as he entered the state between wake and sleep. Any other time it would happen so quickly and he wouldn't notice it at all, just go right to sleep and wake up with most of his body recovered.

But this time was different. This time he felt something and was sure of it. It was so faint and so quick but was the undeniable feeling of something touching him, brushing fingertips over his face before withdrawing.

And it didn't rouse Raditz from his state either. Instead he stayed as he was, knowing for the first time what it was like to be aware that his eyes wouldn't be opening until his body had rested.

Those touches came again, still keeping Raditz within his hazed state of mind. He didn't think because they felt real and that was good enough for him. The fingers he couldn't see glided over his cheeks, leaving a trail of tingling nerves. They scratched at a spot just behind his earlobe which would make his top lip twitch upwards. They pressed into his chest and he felt the scrape of nails which made something inside his body spark. It provoked his body and made him want to return the gestures, dig in his own nails and scrape his teeth. But there was nothing for him to touch and his body wouldn't move to even try.

All the while he could feel breathing upon his neck. It fell heavily onto his throat before ghosting away. At first they were paced and steady, then as the fingers started to press against his hips and thighs they became heavier and much more heated.

Then he saw them. His eyes were still closed but he saw them clearly in the darkness before him. He saw those eyes. They were golden, sharp and there was something hidden behind them which was so close below the surface but kept so tightly restrained. Whatever it was, the sight of it made Raditz's jaw tighten and his tail twitch and he was eager to know what such a closely guarded secret was. His advances were accepted by what he saw on the surface, but whatever those eyes hid was still kept far from him.

Suddenly and without any warning, the jet-black pupils flared and changed. They thinned into vertical slits and Raditz's ears were suddenly ringing with a shout of something which was violent and savage. As the noise echoed and spun around his head, he was sure he could hear something else. A shout in desperation but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.

There was a breath upon his neck, short, sharp and hot and then Raditz's body jolted as he woke and became fully aware of his surroundings once again. The darkness, the stillness and the silence surrounding him seemed so thick and for just half a moment he was sure it was screaming.

His body felt alive. His cheek prickled, his chest tingled and burned with the lingers feeling of the fingernails which had scraped his skin. His groin felt tight and ached, and he could still feel the heat of the breath which had come against his neck.

But he was completely alone.

He even grabbed his scouter but the only readings were the ones of those down the hallway in their own quarters or just passing by. There was nobody nearby. And Raditz was surprised by how hard it was to convince himself of that.

_**END**_


End file.
